Keerlayile Mooga Usli

I have always loved legumes more then veggies..I love them in their simplest form such as saarupkari which does not need any fancy ingredients.. and occasional indulgence in coconut based dishes. We amchi's eat a lot of coconut based dishes. We do add a little bit of freshly grated coconut to anything and everything! I am not very fond of coconut but when I make coconut based dishes I make sure to make them with the amount of coconut required than skimping on it! These days we have cut down our intake in terms of coconut and decided to stick to keeping it to minimum.

When we first came here, I was disappointed that the Indian stores did not have the variety of legumes that we eat back home. I found only moong,Rajma,Chickpeas both variety. I miss horse gram, whole toor, White beans a lot. Back home I used to cook with beans and veggies alternatively. However, we do get excellent green moong and Rajma in local markets along with soybean.

This is a simple yet healthy breakfast which we make regularly. 

Here is what's needed:

1 cup sprouted Moong (green gram)

2 green chilli's slit

a small piece of Ginger chopped fine

a pinch of Hing/Asafoetida

a very small piece of Jaggery (Optional)

Salt to taste

oil

1/2 tsp Mustard seeds

Procedure:

1) Heat oil. Add in mustard seeds, when they splutter add in the green chilli & sprouts.(You need not remove the skin. I had removed them to make this dish. But then realized that the qty was too much so reserved it. However, I have noticed that most of the times, the skin tends to float in water when being cooked. In such cases I just remove them and discard)

2) Add suffecient water, salt, chopped ginger and jaggery if using.

3) When it is 3/4 th done add the hing and mix well. Cook covered until done on medium flame.

When done the moong should be able to hold its shape and yet be cooked. You can garnish this with grated coconut to enhance its taste. Serve hot.

It can be served for breakfast or as a side dish with rice. We had this for breakfast with banana milkshake. Usually this is combined with Poha but we love to have it as it is.

P.S: In place of the moong you can even use moong dal. 

Update: I am sending this over to Srivalli who is hosting My Legume Love Affair, Seventh helping which is the brain child of Susan from The Well-Seasoned Cook. Thank you Srivalli, Susan for this event. Thank you Asha, Namrata for reminding me to send this across.